Reader's Guide

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's funny how the mind works. Here we are in Japan, with companies laying off people by the thousands in the midst of the latest recession, and the Japanese government comes out with a statement to the effect that they've created 150 jobs. ``Stop the presses,'' a colleague said, pointing up the fact that 150 new jobs against thousands of non-jobs is hardly an exciting bit of news. And of course we are no longer in a ``stop the presses'' environment, being a 24/7 news operation that puts up headlines and stories whenever the need arises. Still, I have been at this long enough to remember when that phrase was actually used, and I got to shout it once at my hometown newspaper, The Chronicle-Tribune, in Marion, Indiana. Without resorting to Google, I was able to recall much of the detail of that Saturday night of Oct. 31, 1963, when a propane gas cylinder blew up at a concession stand at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum during the opening night of a Holiday on Ice performance. It happened just as we were putting the Sunday paper to bed. The tragedy, in which 74 people eventually died of burns and other injuries, still stands as one of the worst in the state's history. Our newsroom was a little more than 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, but Bob Daugherty, our ace photographer, made it there in his Thunderbird in much less than that and got some stunning photos of the scene. We were able to get some of his pictures and a first-person account of the carnage (bodies of the victims were laid out on sheets of plywood on the ice as a makeshift morgue) into the morning edition. I don't think I ever heard anyone say ``stop the presses'' in all my other newspaper years after that, and I do recall that the guys in the pressroom were not quite sure what to make of it when I did it on that night, but it worked, and it was the right thing to do. I'm glad I could hold onto the memory.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

When the Lunar New Year comes around later this month, it will be the Year of the Ox. So the decoration on the table this New Year's Day includes the official Starbucks Bear, disguised as a cow. I took him to the flower shop and got good help matching flowers for the occasion. The eve was solo, so pretty uneventful. The Red and White Show was as awful as ever, and I managed to stay awake long enough to wish Happy New Year to some people. To those I did not reach, Happy New Year to you, too!

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Great Thoughts of the Moment

"Arguing with a zealot is only slightly easier than tunneling through a mountain with your forehead."

"You can live for many causes, but you can only die for one. Pick that one very carefully."

"Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now."

"Hyenas laugh becasue they know what's coming next."

"When I was 5 years old my mom told me the key to life is happiness. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wrote down "Happy". They told me I didn't understand the assignment and I told them they didnt understand life."

"Gun control is being able to hit your target."

"Going to church, temple, mosque or synagogue doesn't make you religious any more than standing in a garage makes you a car."

"Some people are alive today only because it's illegal to shoot them."

"The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes."

"Never take yourself too seriously, and mock those who do."

"Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling. "

"When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl. "

``Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.''

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger. "

"I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers. "

"Procrastination gives you something to look forward to."

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices"

"It takes 46 muscles to frown but only four to flip 'em the bird."

"Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully."

"Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer. "

''Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

''The eye sees a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination awake.''

"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm."

"The fisherman knows that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.'' (Vincent Van Gogh)"